Jets & Giants Week 7 Preview + More Yankees Press Conference – The Michael Kay Show – 10/17/25

Jets & Giants Week 7 Preview + More Yankees Press Conference – The Michael Kay Show – 10/17/25

Michael K is on the radio today and he ain’t afraid to say what he’s thinking. It’s the Michael K show on 880p radio and a good afternoon everybody. This is indeed the Michael K show. We thank you for joining us on another gorgeous day. It’s Friday, October 17, 2025. Michael K and you for two. Those are the rules of engagement. Two hours of piping hot sports talk and it’s the fastest two hours in the entire country. Hope you’re enjoying it so far. This will be hours 9 and 10 for the week and we’ve had a great time so far and that will continue later on in the show. You’ll get my two pack for sure. You know, I’m listening to Bart and Carlin and I’m listening to their abysmal records that they have picking games and then I’ve, you know, listened to Don Han and Rosenberg and they’ve been awful picking games as well. And little old Kster is seven and five after a two-0 week last week. So, we will give you two more picks where you decide whether or not you want to pay a mortgage. That’ll be later on in the show. Obviously, one of the games that I could pick would be the Giants against the Broncos. I’m not sure I’m going there. That that one scares me uh for for many many reasons. One of them is it seems like the Broncos are being bet against because people get caught up in the euphoria of the Giants win over the Eagles. Giants also have a longer rest. The Broncos elected coming back from London not to have the by-week. They could do that after you play a game in Europe and they decided not to do that. They elected to have their by-week on week 12. So, not now. And this is the first time any team’s ever done that in the Mountain West time zone or the West Coast time zone. So, right away with the spread the way it is, you’re saying, “Well, maybe I should go for the Giants.” I’m a little afraid of that. I mean, this is a real test for the Giants. Is a real test for Dart, their front line, the the Broncos front line. 30 sacks alone just by their front. They’re a really really stout defense. Really stout. There’s a good test for Jackson Dart and Cam Scataboo. Let’s see if they could follow up on their great performance against the Eagles. Now, you could look at the Eagles and say, “Well, that’s a team that’s broken.” And I might agree with you. The Broncos, although they squeak by the Jets, I don’t think they’re broken. I think the Broncos are pretty good. So, we’ll see exactly what happens in Denver. This is a game that I’m going to stay away from. But one thing that I’m going to watch and something that’s a little bit of a concern for me is the young exuberance of Jackson Dart and Cam Scataboo. So, they have emerged and shown glimmers of Giant fans hope greatness, but they’ve done it with swagger and attitude. And I’m not saying that in a peorative way. They are out there. You know, Dart comes in with the eye black, the streak down one eye looking like Petey from the uh the Little Rascals. Cam Scataboo gets right in your face. Doesn’t seem like he’s afraid of anything. And it kind of caught the attention of Jonathan Cooper, the Denver linebacker, who said, you know, he remarked about the jewelry that Dart wears and the dancing that he does. And that’s the kind of thing that veteran players can react adversely to. And yeah, I I was just listening to Bart Scott talk about this um on their show before this one that football players will will use anything anything to motivate themselves to make up stuff. I mean, that’s how Michael Jordan was. He made up slights so he can get angry at somebody and go at them really hard. So, you could see that Cooper has noticed that Dart’s out there. He’s got some swag to him. That big big necklace and the the again the eye black and and you know the exuberance and the dancing. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, but it could be a factor where okay, that could motivate another team, especially a team like Denver with a great defense. Let’s shut these guys up. Scataboo wants to run over people. Okay, let’s make him hurt every time he runs over somebody. So, that’s just a little added motivation. I wish and you can’t really curb young players and you really shouldn’t because I think part of their um attention to detail and maybe ascension to greatness is because they’re out there because they are exuberant because you can’t really slow them down or or kind of rain them in because you might be taking away some of the what what makes them great. But if I could take it away, I’d say, “Let’s let’s dial it down a little bit, guys, until we reach the mountain.” You know, when you reach the mountain, then I guess you could do what you want. Now, I look at Dart. I like him a lot. Uh, obviously, he’s got skills, but maybe you guys could help me because I I was trying to figure this out. Is there a quarterback that has ascended to greatness that has that kind of swag? And the only one that I could come up with is Joe Burrow because most quarterbacks, they handle their greatness almost in a stoic manner. Now, Tom Brady was not afraid of um you know, getting in people’s faces and shouting and screaming and stuff like that, but I thought that that was more footballish than swaggerish, if that makes a sense. Pton Manning wasn’t like that. Eli Manning wasn’t like that. Josh Allen has a little bit of it him in him, but not a lot. Just a little bit. Uh Lamar Jackson’s not like that at all. Um Stafford’s not like that. Goff’s not like that. Herbert’s not like that. Uh am I missing somebody? I think the one that more closely resembles um Dart would be Burrow. And it also scares me that Burrow is always hurt. And Dart has become very acquainted with that blue tent because if you’re going to show swag and you’re going to make the defense take a take notice of it, then there’s a chance that they’re going to try to hit you a little harder than they would somebody else. They want you to wake up and say, “No, no, not against us. Not on our watch.” That’s something I’m going to watch for in this Denver game. And that’s one of the reasons that everything tells me take the points and take the Giants. And I I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to do it because I think it’s too much of a risk because I think that the Broncos have circled Dart and Scataboo in their collective uh minds bulletin board and they want to make them pay. They don’t want to hurt them. I I would hope not, but I think they want to hit them extra hard. They want them to know that they’ve been hit just because of that that attitude that they bring to a game. I um I found it a little odd that Cooper actually made that public. Maybe he’s trying to send a message to Dart. Maybe he’s trying to get him a little antsy. But I thought that Dart handled it beautifully when it was brought up to him about, you know, that that Cooper’s made light of the chains and he and he said he he didn’t strike back. He didn’t say anything that would further anger Cooper. Nothing like that, which was smart. This kid really handles himself very very well. I just wish again I wish he he dialed it down a little bit but maybe that’s just me at 64 and he’s you know he’s a kid that has a lot of money that was drafted in the first round and he’s becoming a star in New York. So all those things I I guess I understand it and that is the new generation of athlete. They come right at you. I mean look look at Cam Slitler. He’s very very reserved on the mound, but on social media he goes all in. Dart doesn’t have that much of a presence like Schlitler on on social media, but on the field he goes all in. Am I overreacting? Is that a concern of yours? 1 800 919-3776. Now, you know what I do on Fridays? I I usually steer away. I mean, there are exceptions. I steer away um from booking guests on Friday because I want it to be just us, just us kids, and I want you to be the co-host, and I want you to drive the the um the narrative as well. A lot of stuff to talk about. So, if you want to engage, now’s the time. 1 800 919-3776. The other game in New York, the Jets against the Panthers. That one, that one’s tough, too. The Jets are underdog at home. So by one and a half the last time I looked. So that means that Vegas thinks the Panthers are five and a half or four and a half points favorite or four and a half points better than the Jets. Now this is a Panther team that’s 0 and3 on the road and 3-0 at home. Yet they are favored at Metife Stadium on Sunday. That tells you what Vegas thinks of the Jets. And they have some things that the Jets should be concerned about. They have a young wide receiver in McMillan who’s shown that he’s very, very good. Rico Dattle has been unbelievable. 389 rushing yards in the last two games. So, how will the Jet defense stop them? And is our good friend Justin Fields going to somehow um throw the ball? Is he gonna make them pay? I don’t know. I don’t know if he can do that. I mean, we keep saying he should do it, but the question is, can he do it? Is he capable of doing it? He’s never shown that propensity with the Bears and and with the Steelers. And, you know, with the Steelers, you know, he went four and two in the six games that he started while Russell Wilson was hurt. And the Steelers are somewhat conservative because they want to win with their defense. That’s what Mike Tomlin does. And maybe that’s a perfect situation um for Fields. And you can say, “Well, that that’s what the Jets want to be.” Yeah, but they’re not there yet. I mean, they do have to score points. Their defense is not at the level that you’re going to just shut a team down. I believe it’s really, really tough to win games scoring like 17 to 20 points, especially in a league that wants to to score points. They want to put big points on the board. They make it easier for you to score than ever before. You know, Ray Deahan just popped up on the screen and said, you know, a quarterback that had swag, Joe Nameoth. Joe Nameoth, Broadway Joe was a long time ago and he’s carrying a whole league on his back essentially. That’s what he was and he made it work. But in today’s world, really the closest that I could think of is Burrow. That’s that’s Dart that we’re talking about. Now, with the Jets, does anybody feel good about this team winning? I I don’t know. This is the first time in his young career that Bryce Young is a favorite on the road. That tells you how little the bookmakers think about the Jets, how little they consider the Jets. It’s kind of daunting, I think, but both fascinating games. They just have to win at one time or another, right? They have to. So, Peter Shrager, ESPN NFL analyst, was on Unportsmanlike, the morning show nationally on ESPN, and he actually hinted that it’s unlikely the Jets don’t want it to be a oneanddone for Aaron Glenn, but they got to win. You know, they the Jets hierarchy would like to see a win before Thanksgiving. How about before Halloween? Right now, they’re 0 and6 and games that look like they were easy when the schedule came out. The Panthers, that’s not easy. Look, they’re underdogs. The Bengals, well, Flaco yesterday was unbelievable. 40-year-old quarterback dealing and upset the Steelers in Cincinnati. That’s not a gimme anymore. And you can’t look at any game on the Jets schedule and say, “Well, that’s a sure win.” Because the Jets are the homecoming day um opponent for people because every team that has the Jets on their schedule when they do the always famous, never boring win loss, win loss, loss, loss, win game, they always give a win against the Jets. So the Jets going to have to defy the odds. They’re probably going to be underdogs for the for foreseeable future against anybody they play because if you’re underdogs to the Panthers at home, who are you gonna be favored against? So, they’re going to have to defy that. They’re going to have to play better, too. Forget about the odds. That’s Vegas. They’re they’re trying to give you a number that you could bet on either side. They want to even it out and then get the vig. So, forget about Vegas. But that’s the number that they come to that they think, “Okay, some people will bet the Jets because we’re making them underdog.” Because if they made the Jets a favorite, they wouldn’t get a 50/50 split. They just wouldn’t. 1 800 919-3776. Let’s go to the phones. Let’s get you involved. Let’s have some fun today. Okay, we’ll go to start it off with Richard in Newark. Richard, talk to me. You’re first on the show. Hey, Mike. Uh, great show as always. Thanks for having me on. I’m going to say this, uh, you’re welcome. U, when it comes to Jackson Dart and the Giants and Scatteroo, unfortunately, I mean, it’s a gift and a it’s a gift and a curse when it comes to having that kind of swagger on you. But then I look at it from his point of view, he he was drafted to a team whose fan base has seen nothing but failure for almost I’ll say about, you know, with the exception of two playoffs playoff births in 2016 and then 2022, has seen nothing but failure. So, it’s like at some point he says to he I think he was he what he’s trying to accomplish here is I got to inspire the locker room and I got to inspire inspire the fan base to come to our games to come watch these because it’s pretty bad when me being a longtime Giant season ticket holder. I’m looking at StubHub, you know, I’m I’m looking at StubHub to see who I can sell my tickets to because the games were unwatchable and uninteresting. No, I I get you and and I think that there’s some validity in what you’re saying, Richard. But I will say this, that should be the last concern of Jackson Dart because if you win games, you’re going to reignite a fan base that’s really a strong fan base. The Giants fans are unbelievable through thick and thin. That shouldn’t be his concern, and I don’t think it is his concern. I just think that’s the way he’s wired. That’s the way he’s wired. So, I don’t think that there’s some grand plan in his mind. Uh, let me act like this so I could get the Giant fans re-engaged. Nope. This is him. This is who he was in Old Miss and that’s who he is now. And that’s the guy that Dable fell in love with. That’s the guy they want him to be. So, I I’m saying if it was me, I would just have him tone it down a little bit because I don’t want him to be a target. I don’t find a problem with it at all. And And there is validity to what you’re saying because I’m going to tell you this, watching the games with my son, he loves Dart. Now, his birthday’s coming up and one of the things he asked for was a dart jersey and we we went to the NFL shop and we asked for a youth medium and it’s sold out. So, he is resonating with kids because if a youth medium is sold out, kids from like what 8 to 12, that’s who they’re asking their parents to buy them the jersey of. Right now, it’s sold out. We’ll continue to search for it, but it does show that he’s resonating with with young fans. But my point is if he wins then he will resonate with Giant fans. Let’s go to Donnie in Staten Island. Donnie Michael, how are you sir? I’m great. How you doing? Good, good, good. Um, I want to check in with you, you know, listening to you and I feel Giants fans need to really pump those brakes and the hype until you face a real Denver defense before you continue this talk. As you know, I am a Jet fan, not a fraud. I ain’t jumping ship. No way. So, I’m not buying until they face a team that can shut them up or not. That’s, you know, one take within that. I love it for the New York Giants fans, but just let’s calm down a bit. Well, I mean, but one one thing I’d stop you on, Donnie, okay, is this. You know, you you just said a real test. They beat the reigning Super Bowl champions from pillar to post. They destroyed them. So, you you’re telling me that Denver is a better um test for them than the Eagles? I mean, it’s a different test. High altitude on the road, a really good defense, but again, they they dominated the reigning Super Bowl champs. So, you can’t tell me that they, you know, they they beat Little Sisters of the Poor. I mean, that was a real test and they they aced it. And then, you know, with a young quarterback, you are going to have disappointments, too, because they they lost a game to the Saints. They shouldn’t have lost. They should be right now three and three rather than two and four. So, if they want to even ignite any kind any kind of of playoff um hoopla, you got to get to 500 first and then let’s let’s play from there. And it’s going to be tough because the Giant schedule is a bear. But is it as much of a bear now as we thought it was going to be because the Eagles are on the schedule again in short order? Are you you are you saying you can’t win that game at Lincoln Financial Field now? I don’t know. You might be able to. This Denver game, you would say, well, they had no chance a couple of weeks ago. That’s why they made the switch to Dart. They wanted to change the narrative. That’s why they made the switch to him. 1 800 919-3776. Let’s go to Ira in Staten Island. Ira, what’s up, buddy? Everything’s good. Enjoy your weekend. And I’d love nothing more than that. Yeah, I’d love nothing more than see Aaron Glenn get his first win. And like I was just telling Ray, um, Glenn could get a little payback because Carolina Panthers, their first franchise victory ever was against the Jets, whatever year it was, 95 or 96, Glenn was on that team. So, who knows if he even knows that, but uh, it just I I scratch my head. It’s just in the NFL, you know, the way it is from week to week. But unless something crazy happens, they Gary Wilson’s not playing. Who in the world’s catching any passes, right? And they’re not going to run an an offense like Army and Navy. So, how are they gonna win a football game? It’s going to be tough. I mean, that’s why they’re underdogs at home. I mean, I I could hear it in your voice. You’re a little bit concerned and they’ve given us nothing and they’ve given you nothing to hang your hat on that okay, they’re going to go out and beat a Panther team. I’m not saying the Panthers are terrible, but they’re they’re good enough or they’re, you know, they’re that at a level, Ira, that you should be able to beat them if you’re a decent team. I I don’t know if they’re going to do that. Yeah. I I I mean I I have to go against them until they prove me wrong, but you you did mention something about Peter Swagger and that that’s a little bit of an eye openener because he’s close friends with Chris Johnson. So you wonder if Chris Johnson, you know, behind the scenes say, listen, you know, if we go one and 16 and 17, this isn’t going to work. So you wonder if there’s any uh validity behind Frager’s remarks. that that’s that’s an interesting connection and thank you for making it for us, Ira. It is. I mean, Shreger is not he’s not a uh a guy who goes over the top trying to stir things up. He just reports what he knows. Local guy who’s made it big, you know, first at Fox and now he’s come over to ESPN. And for him to say that, now he’s not saying that he’s going to be fired, but we we see an NFL now where the leash is very very short. Owners fall in and out of love very quickly. Callahan, Wilks, I mean, chapter and verse, the the amount of of coaches that get two years and get banged even though they have four years on their contract. Now, the one the one thing that makes me laugh is when when I hear people say, “Well, I mean, Woody’s not going to do that. He’d have to pay a lot of money out.” Really? Woody Johnson prints money. the the amount of money that it would cost him to buy out Glenn and the entire coaching staff that he brought in that’s in his ashtray. So, I think he’s concerned with that. Also, when you have an owner that’s in his 70s like Woody, they don’t want long-term plans. And I’m sure that Aaron Glenn when he was being interviewed and he bowled them over talked about like changing the culture quickly. And I think you got to give them I think you got to I think if you make a decision on a coach, you got to have faith in your own own belief. You know, you saw something in him during the interview process. You don’t you don’t get rid of a guy right away. But they do have to show progress. And over six games, they have not shown progress at all. Still a lot of season left. A lot 11 more games. So they could change the narrative, but right now there’s nothing that you could feel good about if you’re a Jet fan. There’s nothing. Tell me the thing that you watch this Jet team play and you go, “Oh, yeah. Well, that’s good.” For the first time uh this season, I thought the defense played well against Denver. Denver seemed like it was sleepwalking, but let’s give the Jet defense um some credit. That’s something that you could feel good about. Let’s see if they followed up against the Panthers. Let’s go to Tom in Flushing. Tom, what’s up, man? Hi, Mac. Um, hi. Um, I was wondering, um, has there been no football player since Joe names that has swag up until the one you mentioned before? Well, I’m sure there were. I’m just thinking about now, and the only one I can think of now is Burrow. Can you think of anybody else? No. And I was even wondering about baseball players that had that level of swag that Joe Nameoth had. Well, Joe Nameoth was like one of a kind, Tom. I mean, that’s why he’s in the Hall of Fame. Well, I got a swag for you. Okay. Wall Frasier. Yes. It was a quiet swag. It was It was more an offthe- court swag, if you know what I mean. Not on the court. I saw him. Well, yeah. Yeah, you’re right about that. Now, had more swag on the court. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just, you know, the kind of the whirling dervish that he played like so that that that might have played into it. You know, I’m glad you brought up Frasier because Frasier was a man about town and with the the mink coats and the Rolls-Royce, but that was off the court. He never he never showed that on the court. He was he was almost like a lunch pale guy on the court. We don’t know what Jackson Guard is off the field, but we know on the field he’s he’s got it going on, and he wants you to know he’s got it going on. It’s going to be interesting to watch. It really is. I’m fascinated by it because you just don’t see players like this that often. I will come back. I know a lot of people want to talk Yankees kind of the post-mortem of the postmortem that Cashman and Boone gave yesterday. We’re going to give you that opportunity as well. Got a lot of time. Settle in. I know it goes by quickly, but we got time to get to everybody. Hey, getting the right mattress helps you sleep at night. Getting the right price helps you sleep even better. At PC Richard and Sun, they don’t just sell you a mattress. Their experts use a four-step fitting process to make sure your new bed fits you perfectly. The right fit, the right price, plus free delivery. It’s what they do. Only only at PC Richard and Sun. Free delivery on mattresses $199 and up. Excludes Manhattan. See stores for details. Friday with Don Hunt and Rosenberg. Can the Giants find a way to pull off another upset? The locker room just has a slightly different feel. We’re seeing a different product on the field as a result. And just the way they play, the way they act, the way they the way they operate, like it has injected life into this team. Will the Jets get their first win of the season? Don Han and Rosenberg today at 3 on ESPN New York and streaming live on YouTube. Long Island is brewing some spooky fun at Jake’s 58 Casino Hotel. We’re celebrating this October through our $50,000 Witchy Wednesdays drawing. be here on Wednesday, October 1st, 15th and 29th from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. when two winners will be drawn every hour to pick a witch’s hat and win up to $5,000 cash. Club members can conjure up to five times entry multipliers. Fly over to where Long Island wins at Jake’s 58 Casino Hotel. If gambling is a problem for you with someone you care about, please call the 24-hour toll-free helpline at 18778 NY or text hopey. You know so much about who you are, but do you know what makes your body your body? With over 100 lab tests and insights, function can help you know the truth? Because you know you’re made of grit, wit, and a good heart. But just how healthy is that heart? You know you’re made up of all the places you’ve called home. 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And Aaron Rogers uh had four touchdowns yesterday, but also had two interceptions. and Flaco played magnificently and the Bengals are three and four, so you can’t say they’re out of it. And that drops the Steelers down to four-2. We’ll see how it plays out, but that was a fun game, first game of the NFL weekend. We’ll go over uh a lot of the slate as we move along. Now, big part of yesterday was Aaron Boon and Brian Cman meeting the media and um just listening to what you were saying to me during this show because you were still digesting and Brian Cashman was still talking when we we came on the air. You still digesting what Boone said, you know, listening to the uh the comments on Don and Rosenberg as well. Yankee fans didn’t seem satisfied. And then you look at the back page of the New York Post today, Joel Sherman kind of wrote a scathing uh column uh and the headline was pin sananity, like pinstripe sanity where you keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result. So the early returns are people didn’t get anything out of it that they seem like they wanted to get out of it. And I know what you all wanted to get out of it and you aren’t going to get that. I don’t I I’m not saying that you’re you’re being unrealistic, but you were never going to get what you wanted. You were not going to get any kind of um seismic change in the way the team is run uh in the front office or in the dugout. The only changes, and this is the thing that left me empty, the only change he’s got were of coaches. And you know, Brian Castron did not get into specifics why all of a sudden after all these years, Mike Harky was deemed expendable. He just said, “Well, it’s always tough to make these decisions.” I get it. It’s very tough to tell somebody that their time in a job is over. But I think people want to know, well, why was that change made? And we never really got that. And I I I said this yesterday as well. Don’t just blame the Yankees. Teams don’t want to tell you stuff. They want to tell you just enough to somewhat wet your appetite, but they’re not going to tell you state secrets. You know, everybody asked the right questions, you know, when it came to um who you going to sign, who you going to let go. I mean, they they answer it in in kind of nebulous terms. They don’t want to give you specifics. Oh, yeah. We’re going to offer uh Bellinger four years, 120. No, they’ll save that for Scott Boris. What are you going to do with Dominguez? Well, right now he’s on our left field, but we don’t know exactly, you know, what what the team is going to be? And I don’t blame them. NFL coaches don’t tell you anything. You know, somebody answered back on on social media yesterday to me, although they they tell you about injuries. They’re they’re they’re legally bound. The league makes you um tell people about injuries because of gambling and the opponent has to know. But the stuff that they don’t are not binded to say, they don’t say. You think they give out game plans. I have you ever seen the nonsense that GMs talk to reporters about when it comes to draft draft day? You never know who they’re going to pick ever. And they don’t want you to know. They’re obligated to talk to us, but they’re not obligated to tell us anything great. A perfect example of that is Derek Jeter. When he was a player, he was at his locker every single game, good, bad, average, whatever. And he answered questions. And you know what? I was there for a lot of it. And he never told us anything. Never told us anything. It’s like we ate a meal and we weren’t satisfied. But he never ever said, “I’m not talking.” He just didn’t say anything. And that’s what entire fan bases want is they want people to say things. They want concrete facts in these kind of post-mortem press conferences. You’re not going to get them. You shouldn’t have expected it. Let’s see what you’re thinking. 1800 919 3776. We’ll go to Juan in White Plains. Juan, hey Michael, thank you for taking my call. Big humongous fan. Always appreciate you. Thank you. Um that this is in response to Brian Cashman yesterday. Okay, Michael, the Yankees have done something I never thought was possible. They’ve taken all the joy as a fan of the team that I’ve had away. The team hasn’t had a leadoff hitter in 10 years. They traded away Ramirez. In big spots, they sat Ben Rice. Jazz is a losing player. His error ended our season. We played the entire season with our third base guys hitting about 210 with no power. They don’t develop young hitters. And year after year, Aaron, other than Aaron Judge, the players come to the team and they regress. Aaron Boon doesn’t know how to use the bullpen or pinch hit. And Michael, they gave away games this year. One more win and they would have won the division. They could have had a buy in home field. And this is the sad part, Michael. This is the the real sad part. Prior to 2010, the Yankees mandate every year was to win a championship. Brian Cashman sounds like he accepts making the playoffs and losing. It’s a catch 22. Cashman and Boone offer the team stability, which is important to winning, but this Yankee organization isn’t doing everything possible to win championships like the Dodgers. Every year, they leave the team short at positions of need. this year it was third base. Um, thank you so much Michael for I want to go back. They don’t develop hitters. What did you think of Ben Rice? Well, I think Ben Rice, we were real lucky with Ben Rice. But okay. And also you say that it sucked the joy out of So you you you you’re saying all the bad things that you say they do and and it’s not my job here to defend them, but they’ve averaged more runs per game uh than most any team. They make the playoffs almost every single year. Uh they have a chance to win a championship every single year. And I think the thing that is frustrating to fans is that they um they don’t win a championship. They’ve only won one. Uh and that was in 2009 in the last 25 years. And you have the right to be frustrated, but one I think you’re way over the top there, bud. I mean, Jazz Chisum is not a good player. You know how many players in the history of baseball have gone 3030? You look at his numbers over what would be 162 games. He’s a phenomenal hitter. Strikes out too much. But you’re talking about the error that he made in game four against the Blue Jays. They were losing two to one. All right. That made it four to one. They weren’t scoring anyway. Yeah, that made it very difficult for them to come back. But when you look at his outs above average and defensive run saved at second base, it’s kind of ridiculous to say he’s not a good player. I mean, there might be things about him that you don’t like, but he’s a terrific player and he’s a dynamic talent. Now, third base at the beginning, I thought it was a joke. I’ve said it over and over again. They were trying to squeeze something out of Lameu, so they put Jazz at third. Lameu at second. Lameu is a shot player. He didn’t get a chance with another team, did he? But I thought they made a great correction at the trade deadline. They got a closer. They got a third baseman who can pick it with anybody. Ryan McMahon might not hit a lot, but he’s got a little power and he could play third base with anybody. They bolstered their bench. And it’s funny when I mean a guy like Juan says, you know, Boone doesn’t know how to use the bullpen and doesn’t know how to use pinch hitters. Well, the bullpen was bad this year, so blame the bullpen because he’s always been good at using the bullpen. He and Matt Blake. That’s number one. Number two, everybody seems to forget because because they didn’t ultimately win it. All these things that you’re you’re talking about with the with this organization, this front office, they went to the World Series last season. That’s like conveniently forgotten. Now, I’m not saying that you throw a parade because you finished second, but they went to the World Series. They won an American League pennant. And you’re acting like they stink. This year was a colossal disappointment. Can’t be beaten out by Toronto. You’re a better team than Toronto on on paper, but Toronto is a better quote unquote team. They do things that win games like that. But when you say they’ve taken the joy away from Yankee fans, then you didn’t enjoy Judge giving you another Hall of Fame year. You didn’t enjoy the ascension of of Ben Rice. You didn’t enjoy the 34 home runs by Gisham. You didn’t enjoy Freed’s 19 wins and Rodon’s 18. And you didn’t enjoy the ascension of Cam Slitler. That’s a you problem, dude. I know the ultimate goal is to win a World Series and you have the right to be frustrated about that when you say they’ve they’ve stolen the joy. Really, they give you no joy getting to the playoffs every single year. None. They give you no joy. Then maybe it’s time to look for another team to root for. I hate to say that, but if you don’t get joy out of great things that happened during the regular season, I don’t know what I don’t know what to tell you. Let’s go to Eric in Stanford. Eric, hey, Michael K. How are you doing? Good, Eric. How are you? Ah, great. Now that I’m talking to you, happy Friday. Very quickly, thank you. I just wanted to thank you for another great season of Yes. Um, I remember when you were with Don and Peter during COVID, you told me that you’ll need us fans more than you’ll than we need you. It very much goes both ways. We We need you the most. Oh, that’s really kind. Thank you. Of course. So, here’s the thing. Boon Cashman. Boon Cashman. Maybe there’s a different answer. I don’t know if you like Broadway or not, Michael, but have you heard of the show The Producers? Yeah. Right. So, you know, two guys can make more money with a flop than a hit. The show fails. You oversold shares. And now the producers keep the extra cuz no one expects a return on a loser. So now, isn’t that the Yankees? They sell the dream of a ring every year, putting out premium tickets, sponsorships, TV deals, concessions, merchandise, all backed by this idea of the world champion Brock Bombers. But when the team falls short, there’s no real consequence. The investors, aka us, keep paying, the ads keep running, and the cash keeps flowing. And you know, this is what’s most telling, Michael. In 16 years since we won the World Series, the value of our franchise has quadrupled in value. Number of rings, zero. Yeah. But but let me ask you this, Eric. Wouldn’t it have quadrupled and wouldn’t they still get those ad dollars? They won the World Series. It wouldn’t cost him anything. They want to win the World Series. They’re not try like be Ali Stock and and with the other guy’s name. They wanted to have a loser. Yankees aren’t trying to build a loser. They’re trying to win a World Series. You can question the way they’re going about it. But Bali Stock and Bloom didn’t put $320 million into the producers or into that show Springtime. They didn’t. Yankees are trying to win a World Series. Now, you could say they’re going about it the wrong way, but don’t say they’re not trying. There’s not some insidious plan. Well, let’s fall short so we make more money. Because there are ramifications to falling short because when you the rare year they don’t make the playoffs, right? It’s harder to sell ads on. Yes. It’s harder to sell sponsorships at the stadium. Not everybody’s lining up. Now, this year was a good year because they went to the World Series. You don’t think they would have liked to have won? Because when you win a World Series, you could charge even more. So, there are ramifications if you don’t win. That that’s I’m telling you that that’s a little off the beaten path there. I don’t get what you’re trying to say. They’re not trying to lose. I mean, it it’d be some kind of brilliant, you know, Dr. Evil plan that they’re that smart that they could build a team that’s good enough but not good enough to win the title. They’re good enough to go to game five of the World Series, but not good enough to win it. That takes some unbelievable tightroppe walking to do that. No, I don’t I don’t think that’s the secret little plan that the Yankees have in Tampa and the Bronx. I think you’re way off base. Listen, I know it’s a frustrated fan base. One championship in 25 years. That’s not the Yankee way. But the mission statement, I think that’s what gets everybody because they know the previous mission statement, championship or bust. And I think every year how Styr is trying to win a championship. But if he doesn’t remove people when they don’t win championships, then he is content right now that they’re doing enough to try to win a championship. I don’t think he would put up with a a front office that’s not trying to win a championship. Because if he wasn’t trying to win a championship, wouldn’t it have been easier for him to spend $220 million on the payroll, not go over the final threshold, not go over tax of of 100%. Wouldn’t it be better to have a $220 million payroll rather than 320? So, I think you’re all talking yourself into these like sinister plans. They don’t exist. They haven’t been good enough to win. Period. They haven’t been good enough to win. We’ll come back. More of this, the K show rolling till 3 on ESPN New York. It’s another big weekend on the Fine Line. Join one of the nation’s top sports betting analyst, Joe Whiz. Saturday at 8:00 a.m., The Whiz talks about all the big games, including USC at Notre Dame and number five Miss taking on number nine Georgia. In the NFL, the Rams take on the Jaguars in London and Jackson Dart and the Giants are in Denver. Plus, the Whiz talks baseball, hockey, soccer, and yes, the Knicks are back. Follow the whiz on Instagram at Joe Whiz Sports. It’s the best bet in town. The Fine Line with a Whiz Saturday at 8 a.m. Be ready to win. Listen up, football fans. You won’t want to miss this. Right now, new Bet 365 customers bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets, win or lose. 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Because when it’s game time, it’s Tully time. 6 p.m. ALCS game 5 in Seattle as the Mariners host the Blue Jays. So that series is now tied at two apiece. 8:30 p.m. NLCS game four in LA as the Dodgers try to finish off. The Brewers are up three games to nothing. Both games can be heard right here on 880 ESPN New York. Telmu, the original triple distilled, triple blend at Triple Cask Matured Irish Whiskey. Be sure to grab a Telmu. Try the new Telmord honey during today’s action. Glass up to enjoying Telmord responsibly. We’ll go back to the phone calls. 1800 9193776. Let’s go to Ralph in Brooklyn. Ralph. Hey, how are you, Mike? Good. How you doing? All good. All good. First of all, miss you on the drive home every day. Thank you. I just happen to get lucky. I’m in the car now. So, first I got to tell you that you’re way too much of a gentleman. I always told you that you’ll never call for anybody’s job. We know that. But then also, I know over the last 20 years, you use this you use the statement many times. What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Mhm. That’s what’s going on with the Yankees. They’re doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. And the one thing I wanted to call and tell you about is I’m a longtime Nick fan. My favorite Nick ever, Patrick Ewing, window of opportunity. Greatest Nick ever. Never got him a team to win a championship. And the window is going to be closing soon on judges opportunity. and keeping the current management and coaching staff doing the same thing year in year out. It’s not working. Okay. So, let me let me let me question you on this, Ralph. Did they get to the World Series last year? Did they win? No, they didn’t. But you’re acting like they have no chance. They got to the World Series last year and and the and the 2025 team might have been better than the 2024 team. And that’s what makes it so frustrating that they lost. But listen, I understand your frustration, but you they didn’t take a step forward this year. Well, I mean, first of all, they they lost a generational player and ended up um winning more game. They ended up scoring more runs without you said many times they lost Sodto, but the replacements, the sum of the replacements were better than that one player. But but I said that only this year because over the course of the year they because if they didn’t have Max Freed they wouldn’t have signed Max Freed if they got Sodto back and if they didn’t have Max Freed and his 19 wins you know this Ralph they wouldn’t have made the playoffs this year. Absolutely. But that even goes you know that that goes to show more pitching even though our starting pitches let us down in those three games. It’s not the pitching, it’s the philosophy philosophy of the batting order. I mean, half out batting order is under 220. You’re not winning in the playoffs like that. But they got to the World Series last year with that philosophy. I know you’re going to say they didn’t win, but they they should have won game one and they should have won game five. And maybe the Dodgers still win, but they were very evenly matched with a Dodger team that’s going to be compared to a dynasty because they’re going to win three championship in the last 10 years if they if they finish this off. So I under Listen, I am not battling any of you on the frustration. I understand it. This was a colossal disappointment this year. There’s no other way to color it. There’s no other way to color it. But but you go over the top when you say that what they’re doing isn’t working because it works to an extent. I think that they have to tweak it. And I fought back on this earlier in the week. I don’t buy or it was last week. I don’t buy the crapshoot stuff because if it is indeed a crapshoot the way you build your team when you get to the postseason, well guess what? Find a way to build a better mousetrap. Doesn’t seem to be as much of a crapshoot for the Dodgers. It doesn’t. So, I know the Dodgers overspend everybody by a lot. Their payroll outdid the the uh the Mets by 60 million and the Yankees by 80 million. And that’s the pro. Hey, that’s baseball’s issue. If you’re going to get let in uh equity fund guys and hedge fund guys, they don’t have to run their business the way the Yankees have to run their business, which is individually owned. And that’s that’s their problem. The owners approved that because they want to have their franchises go up in value. But that doesn’t mean it’s as easy to win. The Dodgers are willing to spend $400 million. Other teams aren’t. Red Sox aren’t. Cubs aren’t. Yankees aren’t. I don’t think the Mets want to spend that. They fell 60 million short from what the Dodgers spent. So the Dodgers could be gluttonous. They won a World Series. Then they went now signed Max Snell, Blake Snell. They gave Glasnau a big contract. The year before they won the World Series. They got Yamamoto. They got Otan. Listen, they’re going to spend and spend and spend. And maybe that will be the thing that pushes baseball over the top and makes them demand a salary cap. But that’s another story for another day. But when you say what they’re doing just doesn’t work. It worked to the extent of going to game five last year. It didn’t work this year because you got embarrassed by the Blue Jays. And you cannot say that the Yankees lost against the Blue Jays because they didn’t hit. Now they didn’t hit the way they want to hit. They lost because Max Freed got smacked around and Rodon got smacked around. That’s why they lost. They lost the first two games at Yankee Stadium or or at at SC um Roger Center. That’s why they lost the pitching that was so great for them all year and also against the Red Sox abandoned them against the Blue Jays. No offense is going to be able to come back from what they did. They put them in a hole. The starting pitching wasn’t good enough against Toronto other than Cam Schlitler. Louis Heel was awful. Freed was bad. Rodon was bad. And we find out Rodon ends up having surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow. He won’t even be around at the start of the season next year. It’ll be close, but he’s not going to be there on opening day. But you just get me when you say, you know, what they’re doing isn’t good. Ultimately, it’s not. So, you can fall back on the truth. But but you have no way to answer when I say but they went to the World Series last year doing it that way because your answer is well they didn’t win but they got to the World Series. They won an American League pennant and you’re going to say that what they do is an utter total unabridged failure. I I I it’s your definition of failure. If you think that when they don’t win a championship it’s a failure then I have I I can’t argue with you. That that’s your definition and I can’t blame you on that because George Steinber raised you that way. and Jeter accentuated it as does Judge Championship a bust. But obviously Hal Steinber and his family think you know what we’re good enough every year to to make a run at it because if they if they thought let’s be honest and Don always says this on Don Adam Rosenberg if it was championship or bust then these people would be fired. So it’s obviously not the case. It’s not championship or bust because you haven’t won a championship in 16 years. So, inside the the walls of Yankee Stadium, the mission statement is let’s compete for a championship every single year. Because if you say championship or bust and you’ve won one in 25 years, and there’s been no changes, well, what does that tell you? I don’t think they’re content not to win a championship, but they’re content to compete for a championship every single year. They never want to hit the skids. They never not They don’t want to not make the playoffs and not be competitive. I think I read a stat some starting in 94 that they played a total of maybe 35 games, 25 games. I’m It’s It’s around there where they were statistically out of it. 25 games in 31 years that they did not have a chance to make the playoffs. That’s pretty remarkable. Maybe that’s what they’re banking on. Hey, ready to fire up your Saturdays? FanDuel has got a boost that you don’t want to miss. It’s called Boosting with the Boys, and it’s giving everyone a college football profit boost every single week. So, here’s how it works. Each week, they’re giving everyone a profit boost to use on college football. 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So, the um the Bengals upset the Steelers yesterday, but there was a Hail Mary pass by Aaron Rogers, who is the oldest player in the NFL, by the way, at 41 years old. A Hail Mary pass. Don’t know if you guys saw it. That traveled in the air 69.8 yards in the air. Um, it was the the farthest an NFL quarterback has thrown a pass since at least 2017. That’s remarkable. That’s absolutely remarkable. He’s 41 years old and Steve Young said it on Monday. The reason that Aaron Rogers can continue to play, there’s nothing wrong with his arm. His arm has never betrayed him. He’s got a cannon. a 41-y old throwing a ball essentially, let’s round it up, 70 yards in the air. It’s It’s almost unfathomable. And that’s from NFL NextGen stats. There are people that say Baker Mayfield had one that’s more NFL NextGen stats said this is the longest ball in the air since 2000 at least 2017 when they started keeping such statistics. I think that’s remarkable. It gave it gave the Steelers a chance, but they didn’t get it done. And that’s why I say and I understand why he did it. I kind of do understand why he did it. The Jets would definitely not be 0 and6 with Aaron Rogers. And the only reason that you take a chance with Justin Fields is you think he’s going to be the quarterback of the future. I don’t think he is. So, I think that Aaron Glenn would have been better served to institute his program and change the culture if he keep Rogers cuz they’d be three and three in all likelihood. At worst, two and four cuz Rogers could still sling it. Now, could Aaron Glenn control Aaron Rogers? I don’t know. He probably thinks he couldn’t have because Roger said on Pat McAfee that Glenn said, “I don’t need you sitting in the back of the room commenting about stuff I’m saying.” And Roger said, “Well, you don’t even know me.” And Glenn said, “Well, you don’t know me.” So, I mean, it was like playground talk. And that’s why, you know, I I think Aaron Glenn wanted to flex a little bit and had him travel 3,000 miles to tell him in a 20 second conversation, “We don’t want you.” And you could say that if if they did it over Zoom, then Aaron Rogers would have a complaint that they didn’t have they didn’t even have the decency to to tell me to my face. I guess you’d have something there. So, I guess the best way to have done it, the best way would be for Darren Muji and Aaron Glenn to get on a plane to go to Northern California and tell Aaron Rogers that he was not wanted. Instead, you made Aaron Rogers do it so you don’t look as good. you kind of look small-minded. We’re going to punish him. And I think a lot of that might have come from Jet ownership because I think that the Johnson’s, not Christopher, but Woody and Woody Suns, I think they ran out of patience when it came to Aaron Rogers. But I’ll repeat, 69.8 yards in the air, 41 years old. Pretty amazing. Pretty pretty amazing. Dodgers have gotten phenomenal starting pitching in this series against Milwaukee. So you’ve got Snell was brilliant eight innings. Yamamoto a complete game. Glass now they took out in the sixth inning. He wasn’t too pleased about it but they won three to one yesterday. And Milwaukee which had the best record in the National League is one game away from being eliminated. And you know, we talk about Milwaukee and how they do things and how they’re scrappy and all that. And I think that that what that does is it gets you some wins that maybe you wouldn’t get in the regular season because you’re playing your butt off in May and August and July when other teams might not be giving it their all every single time. It’s an old school approach, but they’re simply not good enough to beat the team like the Dodgers. They’re not. They don’t have the pitching to do it. They don’t have the hitting to do it. It’s sad because I’d love to see Milwaukee buck the odds and get it done, but I don’t think they’re good enough. The Dodgers do in a completely different way than they did it last year. Last year their their starter stunk stunk and they won the World Series because of a bullpen. I think that in their World Series run they they had four bullpen games in the playoffs in the World Series. Four. Now their starters are just giving them length and and dominating and they’ve turned Suzaki into a closer because their bullpen’s terrible again. Terrible. But Suzaki gets the last three outs usually. So congratulations to the Dodgers. It looks like, you know, they’re going to win another championship no matter who comes out of the American League. I think the Dodgers with their pitching going to win another championship. So they’ll be the first team if they do win one to win backto back since the Yankees in 989. Yankees did ended up winning three in a row when you throw in 2000. But do you see the Dodger train slowing down? I mean, do you see the Dodgers suddenly stop spending money? Do you see the Dodgers not making a run maybe at TK Scoo if Detroit wants to uh trade him because they can’t sign him? You see the Dodgers not making a run at Paul SK if if the Pirates decide to trade him. The Dodgers are ruthless right now. So what looked like overkill, you know what it’s it’s it’s making them close in on a second straight championship. Now, the Blue Jays, they lose the first two games at home in convincing fashion. And they’ve come back and they’ve embarrassed Seattle in Seattle. They’ve outscored them 21-6 in games three and four to even up that series at two games a piece. 21-6. And what made yesterday all the more remarkable, they had Luis Castillo, who in the month of September was one of the best pitchers, if not the best pitcher in baseball. They had him starting against Max Scherzer who had not started in a month and in September was awful and he gave them five and two/3 gritty innings and they end up winning 8-2. So we got ourselves an American League Championship series. It’s at least going back to uh Toronto now. Toronto is relentless in their offensive approach. That’s why it was so odd what they did in games one and two. Maybe there was a a hangover. I don’t mean literal hangover, but maybe an emotional hangover after the joyous celebration of beating the Yankees and getting over that hump that they’ve kind of flat for the first two games, but they’re not flat in Seattle at all. And Sherzer turned in a big time performance. Turning back the clock. So on a night when Flaco played well, Rogers played well, and old man pitched really well, Max Scherzer. So whatever they paid him this year, I believe it was $15.5 million, and he did not stay healthy at all. That game last night, that was worth the 15.5 million bucks. And it’s become a meme how I mean he’s a lunatic. I mean when he pitches he’s mad max. So John Snyder the pitching coach came not the pitching coach the manager of the Blue Jays came out to talk with him and you can see Sherzer with those two different color eyes staring at him. I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m going to get him. And he’s he’s he’s out of his mind on game days. Out of his mind. So congratulations to the Blue Jays. They they are they are quitting themselves nicely. It would have been disappointing if they got rolled over by Seattle after beating the Yankees, but that’s not happening now. It’s 2-2. 2-2. And game three is tonight. It’s tonight. Uh before I get back to your phone calls, I wanted to talk about the Knicks situation, which we haven’t really had a chance to talk about. So, Malcolm Brogden, who was supposed to be the backup point guard to Jaylen Brunson, decides like with a week to go before the regular season begins that I’m done. I’m retiring. Now, I think that there’s a story there that we don’t know, and I don’t know if we’ll ever know, but he’s 32 years old. I know he’s played nine years in the NBA. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, you decide that’s it. I’m hanging it up. Well, that’s his personal issue. If he wants to do it, he’s allowed to do it. It’s his life. But it does leave the Knicks short at a backup point guard position. So, campaign, who was a backup last year essentially, he just signed with the Pacers. So, it comes down to Miles McBride, who’s essentially a combo guard, not really a true point guard, and Tyler Kohak, a kid in his second year. I think that McBride’s probably going to get the most run at the beginning, but Kak is going to get some run. It’s just a very curious thing that he just quits with a week to go. A week to go. I wonder what’s up. I wonder if we’ll ever know. Did he not like the team? Did he not like the coaching staff? Did he not get a good vibe about it? Not sure. Not sure. But Malcolm Brogden retires and now the Knicks really kind of in a bind for a backup point guard. One final baseball thing. the Phillies. Dave Dumbrossski uh had the Phillies postmortem because they’re as disappointed as Yankee fans because they had a really really outstanding year and then they got knocked off by the Dodgers. And Drowski said, you know, they they really want to bring back Schwarber. They’re looking to bring back uh JT Riomuto. Both of them free agents. Both of them old. Schwarber is going to play next year at 34 and Rio Muto would play next year at 35. But the big news that came out of it, it kind of threw some shade at Bryce Harper, who’s 33 years old. Phillies are getting old. Talk about windows closing. And he harbored some doubt on whether or not Harper would ever be elite again. He said he’s a good player. He said, “Well, Bryce Harper, expect, you know, him to be elite, which he’s always been.” I think Harper finished 11th in OPS in the National League. He’s always been a top 10 guy. So maybe it’s the beginning of of some age regression. I’m not quite sure, but if you’re Bryce Harper, that what you want to hear? Kind of interesting to see that the head of baseball operations said that. And um you know, again, that’s a lot of shade to throw at one of your star players and also a very very popular player in Philadelphia. I’m intrigued to see how much money they’re going to throw at Schwarber at that age and how many years. And the same thing with Riuto. Old catchers, that’s not very common. But Riom is a beast. Plays all the time. All the time. Don’t even need a great backup. He’s He wants the ball all the time. 1 800 919 3776. Let’s go back to you. Let’s go to Jay in Queens. What’s up, Jay? Hi. Good. Good afternoon, Mike. Uh, thank you for your entertainment from the ride only. make New York City traffic a lot easier to bear with. Oh, thank you, man. Wanted to talk to you. Thank you. I wanted to talk to you about the Giants real quick. Um was talking actually to to Don and Han and and Peter yesterday about the the Jackson Dart thing and and kind of how he is. He reminds me of a young Baker Mayfield kind of. Yeah. Um but but also I think the the biggest thing for Giants fans, especially older Giants fans, is he’s kind of the anti what we’re used to. Eli wasn’t like that. Phil Sims, you know, Daniel Jones, not like that at all. And they’re very buttoned up just like the organization that I think it’s taking a while for people to really get used to, but because we’ve been bad for so long right now, we’ll take anything. So yeah, I the the youthful exuberance is nice and it might be a little bit too much at times, but I guess since we’ve been starving so long for anything good to hold on to right now, we we’ll take it and uh and just hope that he’s as good as we’re hoping he’s going to be and and if he’s going to play that way and be that way, we’ll take it as long as it comes with wins, I guess. I think Jay, I think I just wanted to know. Very very well said because he is he’s kind of like the anti-giant. The Giants are very buttoned up. What was your other point? I just wanted to know, do you think that the Giants should make a play for a Jaylen Waddler or a Crystal Lobby just to give him another wide receiver, not only for this year, but for next year? Because neighbors with that injury probably won’t be 100% fully next year either. So, it’s kind of hard to tell how good he can be if he doesn’t have a number one. Do you think they should do something like that now or just kind of tow the line with what they have in? No, I I think you know, we we had on Chris Simmons and Olski yesterday, Jay, and and they both said no, they wouldn’t. I think I would. I mean, I wouldn’t give up, you know, a one a first round through a through a third round pick. I I’d be hesitant to even give up a fourth round, but um would I would I want to get a waddle or an Lave? I probably want a Waddle more than an Olave, but I don’t know how how reasonable it could be. I think you’re between a rock and a hard place if you’re Joe Shane and Brian Dable. I mean, you want the team to be as good as it can be right now. and the team being as good as it can be, you need another top flight wide receiver. Although they did well last year, last week without Neighbors, I think Neighbors will be okay next week next year. But um if they if they don’t make a move and they hold on to their draft pick, whatever it may be, like grim death, they might not have a job. And that’s where the honor of a man as an executive comes forward. Is Joe Shane gonna think about the long-term health of the Giants by not mortgaging the future? Is he gonna think about his future? I mean, everybody’s human, right? He wants to keep his job. And the more they win, the better chance that he and Dave will have to keep their job. So, I would make the trade at a reasonable price. At a reasonable price. Let’s go to Greg in the truck. Greg, what’s up, man? Happy Friday, Michael. How are you? I’m great. Happy Friday to you. Listen, you made an excellent point with the Yanks, and I’m a Mets fan first and foremost. Always Mets and not going to root for another team. That’s number one. Number two, I don’t get why fans or a bunch of people want successful regimes in the case of the Yanks to get rid of Aaron Boon and Brian Kman. Almost the playoffs every year, either the divisional, I’m sorry, the either they get the division or they get the wild card. It’s almost every year. So I don’t understand why they would want to get Well, you know why, Greg? Because they they equate success winning the World Series. So since they haven’t won one since ’09, that’s their thought process that they don’t think that Cashman and Boone are doing a good job. Agreed. Now with the Giants, um I tend to agree that they do need a wide receiver. Now, I don’t think they need to give up, like you said, a first, second, or a third round pick. If a wide receiver is open at a seventh or even a maybe a fifth or a sixth, I’d be up for it. Maybe I’d throw in a Jaylen Hyatt if anything to say, okay, we need to get rid of one guy, bring in a different guy for a different maybe mindset or talent-wise. Well, I don’t I I don’t think I would give up a player. And Jaylen Hyatt has an upside. You know, he he can go get the deep ball. He’s very very fast. I don’t think he’s harnessed all of his uh his talents yet and made it manifest itself as a successful player in the NFL, but I I wouldn’t be too keen on giving him up, but if you could get somebody for a loafer and you could see that Shane’s maneuvering, you know, he’s he’s creating a lot of money into, you know, guaranteed bonuses and so he’s created more more cap room. So, the room is there if he does want to acquire somebody. I mean, you you can say, well, Sllayton’s done a good job and um you know, some of the younger guys stepped up in in the last game against the Eagles, but you do want an established guy. Now, Alve comes with a lot of red flags. You know, he’s had concussions and, you know, one more concussion, he could be done. That’s why I would lean more toward Waddle. Let’s go to Chris in Belmore. What’s up, Chris? Hey, Michael. How you doing? I’m good. How about you? Good. I I love your show and um thanks. Just wanted to make a point. I I agree with you and you didn’t say it in these exact words, but the expectation of the Yankee fan, it for me should be playoffs. That’s what they’ve shown you over the past what 16 years, whatever it is since they they’ve won. It shouldn’t be. It’s insane to think have that expectation of a World Series. So, it’s really on the fans, not on the Yankee ownership and management in my opinion. Well, I mean, that’s an interesting spin by you, Chris, because the the the reason the fans feel like this, especially fans of a certain age, is that for a long time, that was the stated mission statement. So, I don’t think that their expectation should be lowered to win a World Series. That should be their expectation. But I don’t think that you scream for a regime change, right? just because they don’t win the World Series. But people have the right to do whatever they want. And I don’t blame them for feeling that way because that’s the way they’ve been indoctrinated into their fandom. That’s the way it is. That’s the way it’s been. The patriarch of the team stated it very clearly and he he followed that up. I mean, that was truly his his mission statement. That’s why so many managers got fired. It’s hard to win the World Series. House Stein Burner, his son, is much more circumspect and realizes how difficult with the the the new rules and all the rounds of of playoffs that it’s hard to win a World Series like they did. I don’t think that, you know, you can reasonably think that they can recreate 96 to 2001. That might have been once in a lifetime for all of us. We might not ever see that again. But I don’t blame the fans for expecting it. I just blame them a little bit for being so outraged that, you know, you’re calling for people to lose their jobs. I mean, I I would if if if I was in a position to call for anything, I’d be calling for them to tweak their approach a little bit, cut down on the strikeouts, you know, try to get people that put the ball in play, but don’t forget about the home run. The home run is still huge because look at the playoffs that we’re watching right now. teams that have out hit the other teams in terms of home runs. What are they like something 22 and two? Home runs win games, but also putting the ball in play helps win games. So, I don’t think it needs a They don’t need a complete overhaul. And they score more runs than anybody. They hit more home runs than anybody. They had a really good year. They had an immensely disappointing postseason. They beat the Red Sox. So they they slayed that one demon of not beating an American League East team and then they lost to the Blue Jays in an extraordinarily disappointing performance. So again, I don’t want to fight with Yankee fans saying they shouldn’t be disappointed. They should be disappointed. That’s what you’ve been sold since 1973. you should be disappointed. But to to to turn, you know, Brian Cashman into I mean, you guys paint him as as some kind of an EP clown. He’s far from that. Pretty savvy GM. I mean, look at he got one of the best trade deadlines of any GM in baseball. Compare what he did to what David Sterns did at the G the trade deadline. The Yankees made the playoffs because of what they did at trade deadline. And the Mets end up not making the playoffs because of what Sterns didn’t do. He’s not dumb. He’s not. And he’s not thought of that way around baseball. He’s thought of as really, really savvy and bright. So listen, be disappointed if you want to. You’re allowed. And I understand why you are. But screaming at the top of your head for regime regime change, I I keep telling you it’s not going to happen. Not going to happen. 1 800 9193776. Got about another 35 minutes to go. Right to Don Han and Rosenberg. So let’s do it together right here on ESPN New York. For appliances, TVs, electronics, and mattresses, get to PC Richard and Son. Familyowned and operated for 116 years. Friday with Don Han and Rosenberg. Can the Giants find a way to pull off another upset? The locker room just has a slightly different feel. We’re seeing a different product on the field as a result. And just the way they play, the way they act, the way they the way they operate. Like it has injected life into this team. Will the Jets get their first win of the season? Don Han and Rosenberg today at 3 on ESPN New York and streaming live on YouTube. Finding great candidates to hire can be like, well, trying to find a needle in a haystack. Sure, you can post your job to some job board, but then all you can do is hope the right person comes along. Which is why you should try Ziprecruiter for free at ziprecruiter.com/espn. 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It’s a great app. Wherever you are, you could be in Timbuktu and you click on the app and you could hear the show. But when you’re on the app, you see there’s a tile there for the ESPN New York YouTube channel. Click on that tile, subscribe. It’s free. And you could watch the show as well as listen to it. You could comment on my ever thickening beard. Do you like it? It’s all white. I love not having to shave. I think I’m going to keep this a while. I don’t have to go on Yes. until I believe December and by that time be fully grown in. Maybe I’ll go on the air on Yes. with a beard. I mean, the Yankees are allowed to have beards now, right? Why wouldn’t the announcers? That’ll be a good thing to, you know, examine, see if it would be allowed. But it’s going to be a winter beard. Let’s put it that way. And if you had us on YouTube TV right now, our YouTube channel, you could comment. You could say, “Like it, hate it, shave it, keep it, make it a Letterman beard.” I would never make it a Letterman beard. I’m such a big David Letterman fan. I would love to just have him sit with me alone. I say, “Why? Why do you want to look like that?” Cuz obviously there’s some statement being made there. I don’t know what it is. So, you went from a guy who’s always clean shaven, short hair, he still has short hair, to this Santa Claus beard. I I’d like to know why. There’s got to be a reason, right? I mean, is he trying to h He’s still David Letterman. He can’t hide. So, I will never I promise you I will never go that route. Never. Let’s go to Frank and New Relle. Frank, hey, what’s up, Mike? Um, couple of things. One, you know, I know they lead the league in homers and runs per game, but it’s like a it’s a swing and miss team. Yep. Like the the contact back in the day when we grinded out at bats, this team, it the philosophy of when Stanton came on board and we have all these home runs, uh, it just hasn’t worked. uh teams that seem to have a swing and miss. I don’t know. It just seems that every year we get knocked out because of that. The second thing I’m not gonna I have ranted and raved about Boone and Cashman to my friends. So, I won’t do it here because I understand. But when is enough enough? Like in other words, how many year I’m going to give Cashman the 09 title. I’m not going to give him I’m going to give him some credit, but not a whole lot for 98, 99, and 2000. I’m not going to say he didn’t do anything, but you know, he inherited a lot of those players from Watson and there was a group of core players already there. So, we’re really talking about 20 to 25 years with Cman and eight with Boone. So, when in your opinion do we move from them? When does that happen? Now, they’re never going to fire Cman. They’ll just move up to the front to the higher office if you would. But I I as Yankee fans like it I get eight years seems like a pretty good balance. They should be in the playoffs every year. They have a high payroll and most teams with a high payroll make the playoffs. Not everyone. Milwaukee is an exception this year because their payroll isn’t one of the top 10. But when does it like when do we say goodbye to Boone? Is it next year? 9 years, 10 years, 11, 12. And I think a frustrated Yankee fans feel that when they say they want to make a change and you’re saying maybe not to. Okay, but eventually he’s gonna go. But how many more years do we last? Well, I I think that what you’re looking for, Frank. Right. In order for any be any significant change, I would think this is just me guessing now. I don’t know if you agree. If they don’t make the playoffs a couple of years in a row, then I think Well, that’s pretty Yeah, I mean that that would be a toll. I mean, for the Yankees and the way they go out and spend money like you keep bringing up the money, right? The Mets had a $340 million payroll. They didn’t make the playoffs. It’s not a gimme. Yeah. Okay. That’s fair. You’re right. I I get it. That that that would be the exception. And that’s the one thing I think that probably frustrates Brian the most is that, you know, you you you think they just make it because of the money, but there are teams that spend a lot of money that don’t get into the playoffs all the time. I mean, the Red Sox, they don’t spend as much money as they used to, but they’ve had a lot of last place finishes, too, during this run. I think they’ve had five of them in the time that they’ve won those four championships. You know, Toronto finished last last year. They finished last with a high payroll. So there are teams with high payrolls that do not make Atlanta has a pretty high payroll didn’t make the playoffs. So that’s not an automatic get out of jail free card. You have to know what you’re doing to spend the money. Again, the Mets are exhibit A, B, and C. $340 million payroll. They didn’t beat out the Reds who have a third of their payroll for the last wild card spot. So that takes that away. In terms of Boone, he’s got two years on his contract. It’s on a two-year extension in April. I’d say if they don’t win a championship by then, they probably just for optic sake probably do make a change. But I will tell you, I don’t think that Brian has ever been more aligned with the manager than he is with Aaron Boone. They are fully in alignment. Boone is fully on board with the analytics that the Yankees use. and Brian fought back a lot yesterday about Boone, you know, not being told what to do. I think there’s a lot of semantics there. The the front office provides him with a lot of statistical guidance on lanes that pitchers can use and stuff like that. And then he exercises that himself. I mean, anybody to think that, you know, somebody’s making a phone call to Boon in the in the dugout to tell him what to do, that’s not happening. Boon is managing the game off of information he’s receiving from upstairs. So that’s why it’s a real thin line. Is Brian telling him what to do? No. But the numbers that he’s being provided, which he believes in, those are kind of guiding him on decisions to make. Those are the ones that are guiding him. You know, Brian fought back on another interview that he did. I I believe it was on FAN that you know Boon could do whatever he wants. And I’m telling you not not to fight with Brian here. Five or six years ago on on the afternoon show with me, Don, and Peter, Brian was on the air and he was asked, “Can Aaron Boone manage by his gut?” And Brian said on the air, so I’m not making it up. It’s not any back channel stuff. He absolutely could manage by his gut, but he better be right because if it doesn’t work out, he’s gonna have to explain why he did it. So again, there’s that tacit. He can do what he wants, but if it doesn’t work out, they’re going to be ramifications. So is it directly telling him what to do? No, it’s not. But it’s tacitly telling him what to do. And maybe Aaron does go off script every now and then, and maybe it works. But the ultimate split between, you know, Brian and Joe Tory was that Brian really got into the analytics aspects of baseball, which the whole sport was doing, and Joe Tori constantly was reminding him, Brian, the sport has a heartbeat. Now, Gerardi was also, I mean, I work with him now, he’s addicted to information. You should see the prep work he does to do a broadcast, all the stats he has. If you listen to the broadcast, you could hear it. So, he loves statistics. He loves the analytics, but he would push back with stuff that he didn’t agree with. And I think that they got tired of the push back. And also, he didn’t have as good a relationship that they wanted with the players. And that’s why he was not retained after going to game seven of the ALCS. Now, Aaron Boone loves the information and buys in and is all for it and he has a great relationship with the players. So, again, I don’t believe in all of his years as a GM that Brian has been more uniquely aligned with the manager than he is with Boone. That’s why I don’t think that Brian would ever really want to get rid of Aaron Boon. And you know what would make it easy? If they pulled off a championship in the next two years. Let’s go to Hector in Roxberry. Hector. Hey, Mike. As a Jets Yankee fan, I want to first thank the Yankee organization for being the first best franchise in the world. Um, and I agree with you a lot about, you know, how successful we’ve been. But here’s where I think we run into some friction. I believe that the Yankees have the smartest people possible because we are the best franchise in the world, right? The problem is is there’s not enough baseball people sorting through the relevance of the numbers. For instance, yeah, we had a ton of homers this year, but how many of them came when the game was already out of reach against bad teams when it didn’t matter? I don’t know. I mean, that’s a hard thing to quantify. I mean, the the the the other homers though led to the game being out of reach. Sure. But we have the nerds that can go ahead and say, “Okay, with two, you know, man on, right, and we need a run, how many of those games or how many of those hits did we actually affectuate?” A good example of that is why did we lose a lot in extra innings, right? That’s the kind of crucial analytics that I think we’re missing. However, I do want to say that they had it right in the bullpen for several years, right? They had an an awesome analytic for several years. So clearly it’s not just analytics like this broad thing and I think people get you know sort of like bedazzled because you’re using the word analytics and it involves math. Math isn’t wrong right it just but what could be wrong is how you’re looking at it or what you’re using to come up with the math and I think that’s what we’re missing honestly is that I mean but but you know people get lost in the word analytics. Analytics is just information. You know you’re getting information. Who doesn’t want information to help them make a decision? So, I don’t fight back against analytics and it’s important. The stuff that they could find out was never uh available 20 years ago. That’s why, you know, baseball’s at a higher level than it’s ever been, but it might be not at the level that you want. Now, you say that’s why they lost in extra innings. They had the best record in baseball in extra innings at home and they had the worst record in baseball on the road in extra innings. So, I think it has something to do with batting last. That’s what I think it has to do. They can’t they they couldn’t seem to get out of their way extra innings on the road, but at home they dominated. So, you know, an earlier caller brought up the strikeouts. I don’t have a stri I don’t have a problem with Aaron Judge striking out. You hit me 53 home runs, you lead the American League in hitting. I don’t care if you strike out a lot because there’s a benefit to the strikeouts. Same thing with Stanton. You’re going to strike out a lot and still hit a home run every 11 or 12 at bats. I’m good with it. I have a problem with Wells striking out so much. I have a problem with Jazz striking out so much. I have a a problem with Vulpi striking out so much. Those are the guys you don’t want to strike out. And I think you’re going to see a little bit of an issue next year. Ryan McMahon strikes out a lot and he’s not going to be a 40 home run guy. He’s going to be a 25 home run guy. And Brian even said yesterday in talking with the media, “No, we’d like to cut down on strikeouts, but you build the team with what what’s available, what’s out there, what could fill holes, and then you live with some of the minuses.” So, even with all of the strikeouts, they led in runs per game and they led in home runs. I think that the strikeouts show up more in the postseason because the pitching is better. the information given to the opposing team uh and their scouting on how to pitch batters that’s better and I think they exploit holes and I think that’s where you know the the crapshoot uh aspect of it that’s where it comes in because the home runs and the strikeouts over 162 games are going to win you enough that you’re going to get into the postseason but the strikeouts are going to hurt you in the postseason rather than putting the ball in play like Toronto does and Toronto does hit home runs but they’re kind of middle of the pack. The Yankees are first. They led the second place team, the Dodgers, by 30 home runs. So, one thing that I need I think needs really to be amplified. There’s nothing wrong with hitting home runs. There’s nothing wrong with um looking for home runs as a way to win a game. I And the Dodgers doing it wrong. The Dodgers are second in the majors in home runs. is a one win away from going to the World Series again. But you need everything. So in in the in the Toronto series, you didn’t get pitching. That’s why you ended up losing, you didn’t get pitching. The pitchers that was so great during the regular season and during the Boston series, it went away. That’s the issue more so than anything else. Now, could it have helped them if they put the ball in play against um Yasavic? Of course. But Yavich was on the top of his game. He wasn’t against Seattle. There’s so many variables. It’s hard to look at it in a black and white and say this is right and this is wrong. I think for the most part they build their team the right way. I’d like to see home run hitters though that put the ball in play. You look at this Tommy Edmond, right? Who the Yankees really liked and tried to get a couple of signs. He’s that guy for the Dodgers. Kik Hernandez is that guy for the Dodgers. They get big hits and they put the ball in play. Hey, reminder for everyone playing ESPN New York Survivor. Make your pick before Sunday’s one o’clock games to stay in the running for the $5,000 grand prize. After 6 weeks, we’ve lost 83% of players, leaving only Chris Kanty, Evan Cohen, and Jake Asmin as the surviving ESPN personalities. Follow along on the ESPN New York app powered by splashports.com. When we come back, I’ll give you my picks. Two packs for sure right here on the K show until 3 on ESPN New York. To help those who want to be helped, but may not be able to afford it. 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Did you know you can donate real estate, too? Go to carsforkids.org. That’s carsforkids.org. Hey fans, welcome back to Fansville’s. Cheers and tears. Oh, okay. So, like everybody deals with losing, right? To a rival on a last second field goal. Whatever. It’s fine. I’m totally fine. But I cope with losing with an ice cold Dr. Pepper. M. Those 23 flavors are like so delicious. They totally wash away the pain of your college football team taking a big fat L. College football. It’s a pepper thing. Now that I’m a dad, I can’t stop thinking about what would happen to my kids if something happened to me. Like losing the house or not affording college. Yeah, that used to keep me up at night, too. It’s why I finally got life insurance from Ethos. It’s 100% online. No medical exams, just a few health questions. I got 2 million in coverage for around $2 a day. I never realized it was that simple. Get your free quote at ethos.com/game. That’s ethos.com/game. Rates may vary build monthly. Sample rates in your term life policy for a 35-y old healthy non-smoking male. Knicks fans, opening night is about to pass away. Join ESPN New York’s Don Han and Rosenberg live from 3 to 6:30 p.m. from Stout on West 33rd between 6th and 7th. Steps from the Garden. Get ready for the start of Knicks basketball. Cross it off the dribble. He got it and one. Special guests include Monica Mcnut, Pat O’Keefe, and more. We’ll see you at Stout on West 33rd. Don Haunt and Rosenberg live from the Knicks home opener. Don’t just listen, don’t just watch. Be there. Ah, you know what that music is? Time for twoack for sure. I give you two picks, two NFL picks every single Friday. So far, doing better than most of the people in our esteemed station. In fact, they’ve been embarrassing. Not me though. After a two and0 week last week, seven and five. Nothing to hang on the rim about, but certainly better than my colleagues. Take a look at the the record on Carlin and Bark. Take a look at the record of Don Han and Rosenberg. None of it’s pretty. None of it’s pretty. Seven and five. To me, it’s not gorgeous, but it’s pretty. Hasn’t been easy to pick in the NFL this year, but somehow the casers making it work. I’m not quite sure. Maybe Ray um and Tom know uh DPro and Rotherberg. How are they doing? Do we know? Not sure. The fact that Dave’s not, you know, trumpeting how great he’s been tells you it’s not great. I would never say anything bad about Rick. All right, here we go. My two pack for sure. The Bears are five-point favorites over the Saints. Game is in Chicago. Now, the Bears have won two straight games, 25 to 24. Same exact score, but it looks like Ben Johnson is is uh making Caleb a little bit of a better quarterback. Now, he’s a little too sensitive, though. You know, he and Johnson kind of took umbrage with stuff that um Troy Aman said on Monday Night Football. I It was so benign what Troy Aman said. But I guess in today’s world, you either have to slather all over an athlete, otherwise you’re overtly negative. But that doesn’t mean he can’t play quarterback. Former number one pick. He’s got that kind of chase Justin Fields out of Chicago. I’m going to take the Bears. I think they’re going to continue to get better because also with the Saints, Alvin Kamar is doubtful with an ankle. Chris Olavi is also doubtful with a hip. So even if they do play, they’re not going to be 100%. Give me the Bears. I think they’ll pad their margin of victory from one point to seven to 10. So, I’m going to give five and I’ll take the Bears in Chicago. The second pick of my two pack for sure. We got the Dolphins against the Browns in Cleveland. And the Dolphins are getting two and a half points. The Browns are not good. They’re not good. So, Dylan Gabriel in his two starts, Cleveland is averaging 13 points per game. The Dolphins though, they can score. The Dolphins in in five games, 25.5 points per game. You do the math. That’s a 12.5 difference. So, I think I’ll take the two and a half. And I think that Tua Tong Aloa is going to be somewhat um shagrined, saying what he said, calling out his teammates, and having to apologize for it. So, he probably wants to put up a big game. I’m looking for the Dolphins to go into Cleveland and slap on the Browns. And I know I’m taking a chance on a team that’s one and five, but that’s what I do here in Topac for sure. I don’t give you chalk. Sometimes I take a chance. And Ray just looked it up. Rick and Dave are both seven and eight. So of all the shows DP and Rothenberg, Barton Carlin, Don Han and Rosenberg and TMKS, I am the greatest. I’m the greatest prognosticator in the NFL this year. The greatest. The stats back it up. I’m a big analytics guy. I’ve told you that. So seven and five is better than seven and eight. It’s better than the the trash that Carlin and Bart are throwing at you and also Don Han and Rosenberg. Seven and five after two and0 week. Going to give you another two and0 this week. Again, taking the Bears, giving five against the Saints, taking the Dolphins, taking two and a half in Cleveland against the Browns. Those are the two pack for sure picks. 1800 919 3776. You know, speaking of DPO in Rothberg, Rick the other day said something on the show to me is fascinating. All right. So, our studios are down on the southern tipper Manhattan and they’re they’re all brand new, beautifully done, and uh the facilities are great and the bathrooms are essentially clean. We had a little bit of an issue this week because people, you know, insist on flushing paper towels down the toilet, but for the most part, it’s clean. It smells good. It’s nice. And Rick said on the air, he said this if he ever has to go to the bathroom and not like urinate, but the other bathroom, he will not go publicly. Now, I I think I would go to the bathroom anywhere except for maybe one of those portaotties. I I I I couldn’t bring myself to do that, but he wouldn’t even go to the bathroom in our in our studios in the office, which are exorbitantly clean. He said, now this is an example of a guy having maybe a little bit too much money. There’s a beautiful hotel right down the block from our studio. He said he would go to that hotel and he would spend $500 to book a room for the day and just go up and go to the bathroom in the room and then check out. So, there’s some issues there. And I love Rick, you know that. But he spent $500 go to the bathroom rather than go to the bathroom in our building. That makes no sense to me. But a lot of things don’t. You know, it does make sense. I’ll be back again Monday at 1 with the same great show, Steve Young, Scott Vanpelt. We’ll go over the Giants and the Jets, what they did over the weekend, and we’ll talk about the ALCS and the NLCS, and maybe we’ll have a World Series mapped out by then, at least one team. So, please, thank you so much for spending the 10 hours with me this week. It’s been a blast. Always is. And in the words of Billy Joel, life is a series of hellos and goodbyes. I’m afraid it’s time for goodbye again. See everybody have a wonderful weekend and Don Han and Rosenber are next. Getting the right mattress helps you sleep at night. Getting the right price helps you sleep even better. At PC Richard and Sun, we don’t just sell you a mattress. R.

The Michael Kay Show dives into a jam-packed day in New York sports! Michael reacts to the Yankees press conference, breaking down what it means for the team’s offseason plans, Aaron Boone’s future, and the front office’s message to fans. Plus, we preview NFL Week 7, including key matchups for the Jets and Giants as both teams fight to stay relevant.

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